February 27, 2010 07:20 AM

Walsh: Minnesota Governor Gives MO GOP Paw-lenty to Consider

He spoke for under a half hour but Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty brought a crowd of about 500 to its feet as he addressed the Missouri Republican Party banquet on the opening night of the 2010 Lincoln Days weekend at the St. Charles Convention Center.

A speech to Republicans would not be complete without a joke or two aimed at prominent Democrats in Washington, D.C. And Pawlenty didn’t disappoint as he aimed a shot at U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as he touched on advances in technology.

“They have calling plans tailor-made to specific people in our country,” said Pawlenty. “For example, Nancy Pelosi has the family but no friends plan.”

The Gopher State Governor also targeted members of the media, including MSNBC’s Chris Matthews.

“The only thing going up faster than the national debt is Chris Matthews’ man-crush on Barack Obama,” Pawlenty told his receptive audience.

The tone then turned serious as Pawlenty pointed to a slogan on the Missouri Republican Party banner adorning the stage - a banner that read “Restoring America’s Promise.” He told the dinner crowd America is in trouble and needs to return to the wisdom and values that have stood the test of time.

“Our founding fathers put it in the Declaration of Independence that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights,” said Pawlenty. “It’s not that we’re endowed by Washington, D.C. We’re not endowed by the Big Government. We’re not endowed by the Minnesota Legislature. We’re not endowed by the city council. We are endowed by our Creator.”

The crowd got more of what it came to hear as Pawlenty tore into Washington’s effort to overhaul America’s health care system.

“We need to make sure we grow the economy by doing things to encourage economic growth, not discourage it,” said Pawlenty. “The worst thing we can do is put more burdens on the economy by having the federal government take over the health care system.”

The words of French President Nicolas Sarkozy were used by Pawlenty as he launched more criticism at the Obama Administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress - this time over foreign policy.

“When you have the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, lecturing the United States of America on the dangers of appeasement you know we have entered a problematic era in international relations,” the Governor told his audience to loud applause.

Pawlenty wrapped up his speech with a warning to Republicans. “This is the party of limited government. This is the party of the rule of law. This is the party of the private sector, not the government sector. This is the party of free enterprise and markets and respect for God and all of the other principles that we talked about that are in the Constitution. These principles are one generation away from extinction if we don’t remind ourselves what they are and more importantly fight for them now.”

Following his speech Pawlenty met with reporters and the man said to be considering a White House bid in 2012 was asked whether he does, indeed, plan to run for the presidency.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do after being Governor,” answered Pawlenty. “I’ve got one year left as Governor and I need to focus on that, helping out the Republican Governors’ Association as the vice chair, and then I have a PAC that I’m running to try to do things like this and try to help candidates across the country. But beyond that I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

In the world of presidential politics Missouri is known as a swing state - a state that can go either Republican or Democratic. From Missouri, Governor Pawlenty heads west to speak at an event in Nevada, another swing state.